The Cold Light of Stars
by WolfSpirit79
Summary: Ghosts don't exist. At least, that's what Danny told himself after the failure of his parents' latest invention - a portal leading into the realms of another dimension. In the aftermath of the accident however, Danny finds himself thrust into a world that he doesn't understand - a world that proves very dangerous, especially when a mysterious creature begins to target humans...
1. A Dream Deferred

**Chapter 1: A Dream Deferred**

* * *

" _From the earliest days of man there has endured the conviction that there is an order of existence which is entirely strange to him. It does indeed seem that the strict order of the visible world is only a semblance, one providing certain gross materials which become the basis for subtle_ _improvisations_ _of invisible powers…"_

\- Thomas Ligotti, _The Nightmare Factory_

* * *

Today was the day.

For months Jack and Maddie Fenton worked almost solely in the basement laboratory beneath their house, only coming up for food or rest. The time spent there were full of dusty days, hours stuffed with calculation and re-calculation, soldering wires shut, clicking metal plates together, inching closer and closer towards the goal before them.

They spared no thought to the reality of the dream that eluded them, too busy with careful hypothesis and experimentation – a Carnacki-like couple dealing with a scientific field too unexplored, too steeped in myth.

Maddie went over a novella of numbers. Something as simple as carrying the one over could make an almost literal difference between life and death. As she flipped to another page, a series of quiet memories flashed –an old college colleague screaming years ago, clawing at radioactive grapeshot. The darkened look in Jack's eyes when they visited his best friend in the hospital, his mental turmoil barely contained behind a comforting smile.

She heard the metallic _shlink_ of a soldering gun sliding off an iron table. Maddie turned around to see Jack, bearing a childish grin on his face.

"Just a few more wires, and we're _done."_ Jack laughed, his guffaw echoing as he stepped back into a metallic half-dome. Safety glasses perched upon the top of his head.

Maddie smiled, her heart swelling. The reality of their task broke upon her, an ocean washing through her mind. She clasped her hands. "I can't believe it, Jack. This is going to change the world!"

She picked up a second soldering gun and followed him into the threshold of their invention. She placed the hood of her baby blue jumpsuit over her head, followed by thick red goggles.

"You said it, Mads!" Jack clicked the glasses over his eyes, and turned to a large panel. He opened up the main wireframe, a tangle of cords spilling out of the section. Flames _flooshed_ out of their soldering guns, both scientists turning to their respective tasks. Sparks bounced across the cement base of the machine.

Towards the end of their soldering, they heard the familiar squeak of converse shoes upon the top step of the basement stairs.

"Hey Danny, come down here! We've got something to show you!" Jack yelled, looking up from his position.

A fourteen-year-old boy came down the stairs, his face apprehensive. Danny looked around at the mess around him.

Green ooze spilled around some Petri dishes upon the table near the stairs. A metal dog lay on its side at the opposite corner of the lab. Its jaw gaped full of sharpened teeth. A bundle of black, rubber cords snaked across the tile floor, leading right into the huge metal hole that filled up the back of the lab.

Maddie turned off the soldering gun, grinning at Jack. He beamed back in pride, turning off his own equipment. As she stepped out of the machine with the soldering gun and a wrench in tow, Jack quickly closed the main wire panel.

He would never realize the fatal mistake he just made.

Had he not been distracted by Danny's entrance into the lab, he would have noticed that he accidently crossed the wires for safety and power.

Maddie pulled out a graph from behind the cabinet as Jack placed the equipment on the table. Jack took out a pointing stick, and then moseyed over to the diagram.

"I'm sure you've been curious about what we've been working on for the past few months. Well, today is your lucky day!" Jack's exclaimed. He placed his pointer at the graph. "Say hello to the Fenton Ghost Portal!"

Danny took a look at the blueprints. Upon it a huge picture of a ghost came out of a hexagon shape, maw gaped open and eyes scowling in mid-snarl. Next to the diagram was a nondescript figure of a person, the scale showing it to be only half the size of the monster lunging towards it. 'Us' was the label applied to the human.

A childhood fear arose in him, even though he knew – or at least his sister insisted – that such things could not exist. He gulped.

"This is our secret project – an artificial gate that will lead us straight into the realms of another dimension," Maddie explained. "We'll be able to study ghosts in their natural habitat, and finally be able to catch and dissect one to learn their secrets!"

Danny blinked. "Is this why Jazz and I were banned from the basement?"

"Exactly!" Maddie said, "We couldn't risk someone getting hurt." She frowned, a finger resting on her cheek. "You know, it's a pity Jazz's studying in the library at the moment… think we should wait for her?"

Jack went over to the power plugs lying on the floor. "We've got no time to waste! Let's surprise her!" He rose his palm towards Danny's direction. "Stand back Danny," he grinned, "this could be _dangerous_."

Maddie went over to the control power next to the portal, fixing the gages to their proper places, and hitting a white button on the panel. Danny stepped back from the portal, heart beating a little fast. Still, he couldn't help but feel a little bit of excitement, caught up in the wave of his parent's enthusiasm.

Maddie proceeded to walk over to Jack as he held the two cords in his hands. They looked at each other, a quiet understanding flowing between them. All the years of research, all the theories, all the work… it was finally cumulating in this moment.

Jack plugged the two cords together.

The portal shot out white sparks, and then fizzled.

All three stared at the machine. A silence fell for a few moments.

Jack dropped the wires with a clunk. "I don't… I don't understand. It should be working now." His voice dripped with disappointment.

"I would say it's a miscalculation but I checked multiple times. This shouldn't be happening." Maddie frowned at the machine, as if staring it down would make it work. "Maybe it's a delay in the hardware?"

"Maybe…" Jack's voice trailed off, making it clear that he didn't believe it. For the first time since his childhood, a doubt had crept into his mind. What if those other scientists were right all along? What if ghosts didn't exist, and all those years of research had been for nothing?

It was a bitter pill to swallow.

Maddie came up to him, gentleness in her voice. "Come on, I have some fudge in the kitchen from my sister. Let's go up and figure out what happened."

Jack, normally enthusiastic about such things, merely nodded his head. "Sure."

They went up the stairs, hands trailing on the rail.

Danny continued to stare at the mouth of the portal for a few minutes, trying to see if he could work out the problem from an outside perspective. "What if it works after all?" he muttered to himself.

* * *

"So, are they ever going to change the sign back?" Sam asked. The Goth placed her arm upon the table, salad leaves limp within the bowl in front of her.

"Nah," Tucker chuckled, "Company couldn't find the original letter. Besides, they figured it was better to rebrand it than replace it."

Sam drummed her black chipped fingernails on the plastic table, eyebrows furrowed in thought. "You know, it's a nice change from the usual corporate rhetoric, but who the heck did it? They need a medal or something."

During the weekend, a group of high-school jocks decided to pull a spectacular prank on the town in a sort-of 'back to school' celebration. What most people didn't know was that the leader – a freshman known as Dash Baxter – had instigated the prank.

What even fewer people realized was that Dash – for all his many, _many_ faults - was a bonne fide genius when it came to animatronic engineering.

He inherited this gift from his father, an engineer who specialized in amusement park rides. Dash took great pains to hide this particular trait - the sheer horror of being seen as a _geek_ made him sick to his stomach.

Still, it had its uses he realized, and so he spent a week planning the prank and an even longer time constructing the sign. Upon showing the letter to his friends, his friends asked where Dash got it.

"Uh, the internet?" he answered.

They proceeded to go out into the middle of the night, switched the 'T' for Dash's neon sign, and then partied the rest of the night.

And ever since that day, the Tasty Burger became the Nasty Burger.

Tucker bit into his double-patty sandwich and shrugged. "Who knows. But hey, it adds a certain character to the place."

Danny joined Tucker and Sam at the table, sliding his tray onto the plastic sheen.

"What's up?" Tucker asked, looking up from his burger. A glob of ketchup fell near his PDA. Tucker dropped the burger, snatched the contraption up in horror, cradled it in his arms, and then snuck it back into the safe cavern of his canvas pants pocket.

Danny shrugged. "Nothing much." He picked at his fries with a fork.

Sam looked at him, a concerned look on her face. "Something wrong? You look kind of bummed out."

Danny dropped the fork onto his plate. "It's my parents. They've been working on this strange machine for awhile now – a ghost portal I think – and…"

" _Wait – wait - wait_. " Tucker gesticulated his hands in a pausing sign. "Hold it right there. A _ghost_ _portal?!_ That's so freaking cool! Why didn't you mention this before?" His eyes gleamed behind his glasses.

"I didn't know about it until yesterday. Besides," Danny's shoulders slumped, "it doesn't work anyway. I've never seen my parents so upset before. I wish I knew how to help them out." He looked out of the window wistfully.

Sam gestured with a fork in her hand. "Working or not, that's still very cool. I mean, ghosts? You should totally let us check out your parent's lab!"

Danny frowned and turned towards her. "No, absolutely not. They don't allow people down there. Besides, do you have any idea how many lectures I've had to sit through?"

He sat up, pointing his index finger to the sky. He put on a gruff imitation of his parents. " 'You might get into an accident, you might get contaminated, you might _die…_ ' " Danny put his hand down, "Also, Sam, you've been to our places. How come we haven't seen _your_ house yet?"

Tucker leaned in. "Yeeeah Sam. You haven't told us a thing about what your place is like."

Sam shrugged, looking away in embarrassment. "Trust me, it's nothing special. I'll show you eventually, just not right now," she said a little quickly.

Tucker leaned back into his seat, picking up a fry. "Fair enough. Anyway, speaking of which –" Tucker looked back at Danny. "Still down to have us at your place after school?"

Danny nodded. "Yeah, that's fine. Got this new model I want to show off, and I think the math class is already kicking my butt." He laughed, "I'm gonna need all the help I can get."

* * *

"Congratulations, Fenton." The overweight, balding English teacher placed the pop quiz in front of Danny. "Seems like good grades run in the family." Mr. Lancer proceeded to continue down the aisles of students, handing out the results of the quiz to each one.

Danny held the test up, smiling a little. Suddenly he felt a _smack_ at the back of his head. He held the back of his head, feeling something wet. Taking an easy guess at who threw the spitball, he turned around.

Dash sat at the back of the class, a cruel smile on his lips. His letter-jacketed arm hid his own test. Danny blanched and turned back towards the front of the class. Tucker noticed Danny's concern, and tried to give a comforting look.

"Be sure to start Hamlet for class next week, act one, scenes one to two. I don't want another class full of blank stares." Mr. Lancer picked up a plastic skull from his desk and held it up. "You will learn to appreciate the master of the English language, even if I have to cram it down your _throats_." The clock rang. Mr. Lancer placed the skull down. "Class dismissed!"

The students poured out of the classroom, chattering about weekend plans and gossip. Tucker, Sam, and Danny headed out into the hall; bags slumped on their backs.

"You sure you don't want us to see the lab?" Sam asked, "I mean, we'd only be down there for a few minutes."

"Yeah, come on dude. We'll be in and out, and no one will be the wiser." Tucker said.

"Well, I don't know…" Danny began.

Tucker and Sam clasped their hands in a mock form of pleading. "Pleeeease?" They said simultaneously.

Danny put a hand to his neck. "Fine, I suppose. I mean, my parents are going to be attending a short conference about EVP or something like that. I guess it wouldn't hurt to show you – but only for a few minutes."

" _Yes!"_ Sam exclaimed. She went straight over to her locker and opened it up in one fluid motion. She grabbed an old Polaroid camera from inside, and hanged it around her neck. Danny raised an eyebrow.

"I figured while we were in your house I could take a few pictures. How many people can say they've been in a _ghost_ lab before?" Sam said.

Danny shook his head. "If my parents find out I let you guys down there, they're going to ground me."

"Oh come on. It's just for my personal scrapbook. No one's going to know, trust me."

Danny looked down at the ground. "Fine."

" _ **FENTON!"**_ A nasal voice screamed at the end of the hall.

Danny sweated and took a step back. "Oh great, _Dash_."

The jock stomped over him, the quiz squashed within his meaty hand. He shoved the paper in Danny's face. Danny grabbed the paper and looked down at it. A large angry 'F' blared from the page.

"It's your family's fault I'm in 9th grade _again,"_ Dash continued, "So do you know how you're going to make me feel better?"

Danny took a step back, knowing exactly what was going to happen. He wished he had a way to disappear right then and there, but it was hard to do anything with his knees feeling like Jell-O.

Dash grinned. "By holding still _while I wail on you_!"

Dash grabbed Danny by the red circle on his t-shirt, opened his locker, and then shoved him in it. He slammed the door behind him, laughing as he left. He clapped his hands together to get the dust off. The other students that were watching turned back to their normal activities.

Shoving nerds down lockers was just another normal day in the halls of Casper High. There wasn't much the authorities would do about it, being so reliant on the money that came from sports – football in particular - to keep the school running.

In the dark, Danny tried to breathe under the weight of his legs crushing his ribs. He knew that it wasn't his family's fault for Dash's current situation – the dude never lifted a book in his life (unless it was for lifting weights). However, ever since Danny's parents crashed into the school last year, screaming about ghosts invading the area, Dash pinned the blame on Danny for his failure on an important exam. The fact they were now in the same class made it all the easier for Dash to take out his frustrations on him.

The worst part was that in reality the 'ghosts' were actually a couple of kids in white bed sheets. Someone thought it'd be hilarious to prank call Fenton Works during April Fool's Day.

Danny's pupils shrank as light poured in to the space. The locker door opened, and gravity forced his body to tumble straight onto the ground.

Sam placed the lock back onto the door. "Fourteen seconds. That's got to be a new record."

He got up, rubbing his head and frowning down the hall. "Thanks, Sam. Let's get out of here before Dash comes back for more."

* * *

They left the building, a droplet in a river of students. Conkers scattered across the sidewalk they crossed. As they went closer to Danny's house, Tucker gave a mischievous grin.

"Hey, how about a race? Last one to the door is a rotten egg!"

Danny grinned back. "Oh yeah? You're _on._ "

"Three, two, one… _GO!"_

They both took off, leaves crunching beneath their feet. Sam shook her head in amusement. "Boys," she muttered. She held her _bubbe_ 's camera close to her chest, lest someone trip and break it.

Tucker made it to the door first, his hand pounding upon the purple wood. "I win!" He said in between pants.

"Only because you had a head start!" Danny exclaimed. He opened the door, only to be met by his sixteen-year-old sister.

"Hey Danny, know what's up with Mom and Dad? They seemed depressed when they left." Jazz asked. A bundle of books from Sigmund Freud and Solomon Asch rested in her arms.

"One of their inventions didn't work –they were working on a ghost portal, but it didn't turned on." Danny explained.

"I'm not surprised. I'm pretty sure half their inventions are Hieronymus machines anyway. I'm surprised the government still pays for them." Jazz flipped her red hair back, and headed out of the door. "Anyway, I'm about to make a breakthrough with one of the students so I might not be back for awhile – try not to get into trouble, okay?" With that, she closed the door.

"Soooo… basement first?" Tucker asked.

Danny shrugged. "Sure, why not? The sooner we get this over with the better."

Placing his hand upon the handle of the laboratory door, Danny couldn't shake the small sense of anxiety that suddenly seized his chest.

" _Relax, it's just a tour of your parent's spooky lab,"_ he thought.

Somehow the idea didn't make him feel better.

* * *

 _A/N: And thus begins one of my first attempts at written fanfiction. Hoo boy. The story will be ramping up from here, with a slightly different take on the origin story. The fanfic will be using material from the intro, the original intro, and supplementary material from the Nick magazine when the show first came out._

 _Disclaimer: Danny Phantom belongs to Nickelodeon, Butch Hartman, et al. I do not own the characters, nor will I be making money off it._


	2. The Light at the End of the Tunnel

**Chapter 2: The Light at the End of the Tunnel**

* * *

" _A blunder – apparently the merest chance – reveals an unsuspecting world, and the individual is drawn into a relationship with forces that are not rightly understood… the blunder may amount to the opening of a destiny."_

– James Campbell, _The Hero with a Thousand Faces_

* * *

'Dude, this is _incredible_!'

Tucker looked down at the basement, adjusting his red beret. The three of them stood at the top of the stairs. Danny looked behind him at the open basement door with concern.

'Just a few minutes, okay? Every time I go down there, I have to get scrubbed for 'potential chemical exposure', " Danny shuddered at the memory. "I don't want you guys going through the same thing. Besides, as I've already said…"

He flicked a light on, illuminating the basement laboratory. '…it doesn't work anyway.'

The metallic arc stood at the end of the basement, wires snaking out into a variety of control panels. Tucker skipped down the stairs, eyes gleaming in excitement.

'It's like a real-life stargate though! And look at all this cool stuff!' He bounded over to a table. A gaggle of gadgets blipped. 'Do any of them work?'

Danny shook his head. 'As far as I know, not really. Besides," he chuckled nervously, "it's not like ghosts exist anyway.'

The raven-haired girl next to him stepped towards the machine, placing a hand on the rim of the portal.

'What if they do though? Wouldn't that be so cool?' She took the Polaroid camera off her neck. She turned to Danny. 'Hey, we should have a picture of us in front of the portal."

Danny raised his hands. 'No thanks.'

'Come on. Just the three of us – one picture, okay?' Sam lifted up the camera in eager anticipation.

"Well, okay then. One picture though!" Danny stood in front of the portal. Tucker stood behind him, his smile still wide upon seeing himself in the lab. Sam positioned herself beside them, her arm struggling under the weight of the camera.

"You have to admit, this is pretty awesome dude." Tucker said.

Danny laughed, "I guess so."

The camera clicked.

"Hey – what's in there?" Sam asked, as she slid the camera back to her chest. Her eyes fell across an open closet.

Danny glanced at the closet. "Oh, that? Just a bunch of HAZMAT suits. Parents got me one for my birthday."

A mischievous grin played upon her face. "How about one more with you and that lame suit in front of the portal?" She whirred the camera slider.

He rolled his eyes. "Okay– but one more and then we're _out of here_."

He went over to the closet, grabbing his unused HAZMAT suit from the hanger. It glimmered silver within the florescent lights. A sticker of his father's face beamed on the front. Danny walked over to the portal, holding the suit in front of him in an awkward manner.

"Smile!" Sam clicked the camera.

The flash that ensued blinded Danny for a moment. He blinked, trying to get the stars out of his eyes. "Okay, you got your picture – can we go now? My parents might be here any _minute_."

"Come on Danny, a ghost _portal?_ Aren't you curious?" Sam adjusted the camera. "You gotta check it out!"

He looked at the machine, a hand rubbing his chin. To see a new realm…what would that be like?

What if it was a misty forest, a place born of shadows like the stories his father used to read to him?

What if was a world bathed in brightness, a white light like the one so many described on their deathbeds?

What if it was an eldritch-like domain, a place of abnormal geometries and grotesque monstrosities?

He could be the next Neil Armstrong or Yuri Gagarin – the first pioneer to a world unseen. He grinned.

'You know what? You're right. Who knows what super-awesome things could exist on the other side of that portal? Let's do this.' Danny said.

He placed a leg through the HAZMAT suit, the material tight against his skin. He looked towards the portal, zipping the suit to his neckline. The boots and gloves stood out black from the rest of the material.

"Hold on." Sam stepped up towards him, snatching the sticker off his chest. She pointed to Jack's visage. "You can't go walking around with that on your chest."

Danny turned to the maw of the machine. The portal loomed over him, the darkness a silent threat. His face fell. What if they were real? Those things, those _ghosts_? All those stories of possessions and hauntings, spirits who came into the real world in fury and jealousy of the living... the familiar fear pricked against his veins.

In that brief moment, he believed them real – no longer childish nightmares, but dark stuff born from human myth. His conviction wavered. At the corner of his eye, he could see Tucker and Sam urging him on. Tucker winked and gave a thumbs up. Sam readied the camera in preparation.

Danny stepped into the portal.

His eyes ran around the concave walls, an ants' hill of intricate wires trailing towards the generator at the back. He walked further into the machine, boots clicking upon the cement. He whistled. 'You guys sure know how to make something,' he muttered to himself.

As Danny continued down lost in thought, his foot caught into a snare of wires. He tripped. With a lurch, he tried to steady himself against the wall. His palm fell onto a button.

It clicked.

' _What_?' Danny looked, wide-eyed, releasing his hand from the on switch. A light appeared at the end of the tunnel.

The wires glowered red, electricity raising sparks around him. Adrenaline rushed through him, animal instinct kicking his body into overdrive. He began to run towards the entry of the portal, reaching for escape from some unknown terror.

He couldn't hear Sam and Tucker screaming at him to get out, couldn't hear the cackle, couldn't hear anything over his heartbeat thudding as thorns of electricity ripped their snares into him. His foot hooked onto more cables. He twisted as he fell, only to be caught by the green light that smashed into his entire body.

Electricity arose from naked wires, breaking into his system. His heart stopped for only a few minutes - but that was all it took.

Within the hottest of ectoplasmic hot zones, Danny Fenton died.

* * *

The ectoplasmic units that rammed into the emerging portal were scarcely sentient, their sensessolely consisting of light and extreme temperatures. Suctioned from the realms of the ghost dimension into the spaces between the Infinite Realms and the real world, they went straight for the nearest source of warmth.

They phased through Danny's suit, and infected his internal structure. With a gasp, he woke up, his heart hiccupping to life again, but it was far too late.

Inside the nuclei of almost every cell, the ghostly agents merged with every bit of Danny's DNA, inserting 'ladders', rearranging the structure. Their eyes closed upon the fusion. His re-coded DNA pumped out new proteins at an alarming rate.

As Danny felt pure ectoplasm seep into his flesh, _become flesh_ , he began to scream.

* * *

The light blasted inside the machine, catching Danny like a shadow swallowed by the sun. Sam and Tucker watched as his silhouette writhed in the portal, arms and legs board-rigid against his sides. Sam's breath caught against her throat.

'Sam, we need to get out of the way!' Tucker grabbed her and ran towards the side of the portal. Moments later, light exploded into the lab. Sam placed her hands into her ears - anything, anything to shut out Danny's screams.

Tucker looked around, seeking a way to stop the portal. His eyes went down, towards the plugs lying on the ground. He lunged at the floor. Putting a hand on each end, he pulled. His back arched, wires taunt within his grip.

'They're stuck!' He dropped them onto the ground with a clunk. 'They must be magnetized or something,' his voice arose in panic, _'I don't know what to do!_ '

Sam ran towards him, grabbed an end. They pulled, a sick tag of war, but the cords stuck together. Tucker dropped a cord, shoulders trembling.

His heart raced, voice repeating fearful beats. 'No, no, no, no, no…'

Tucker looked up, noticing Sam stare straight ahead at the portal. His eyes followed hers. An eddying veil formed around the entrance, shrouding the view of their friend's flailing figure. The last view they saw of him were his legs winding into one…

The light bulbs erupted. A shower of glass crashed upon the tiles, narrowly avoiding the two huddled figures against the control console.

The laboratory shattered into black. Sam plunged her head onto Tucker's shoulder. Tucker gripped onto her for dear life, his face a mask of anguish. _He has to be okay. He has to be._

* * *

Within the depths of the portal, time slipped into illusion – seconds into hours, minutes into years. Time was not a reality within the depths of the machine. There was only the light all around Danny, searing his vision, filling it will green, _burning_ it with green.

He tried to cover his eyes with rigid hands. The suit charred black – the light reached a crescendo his flesh gave away his _skeleton was showing through -_

With a gasp darkness dropped like deadweight upon him; he plummeted into a roiling vortex, his limbs stretched out from him, shifting between feeling weightless and substantial, freezing and boiling, from seconds into eternity -

Then everything stood still.

The veil settled upon the entrance of the portal, a red light blinking upon the top of the machine. The lab went silent upon the aftermath of the storm.

* * *

The emergency lights went on with a _thunk_ , bathing the room in red. Smoke poured of the portal, a delicate mist polluting the entrance. Whether it was from the machination of the portal or hints of another world, Tucker and Sam did not know.

Head pounding, Sam stepped towards the gate again, hoping against hope.

'Danny? Danny? _Can you hear me?_ '

As from a great distance, they heard a groan on the other side of the veil. Tucker sighed a breath of relief. Danny was okay – or as close to okay as someone could get considering the circumstances. He was okay. They could all laugh about it later, everything turned out fine -

A white glove broke through the surface tension of the veil, spilling ectoplasm onto the floor. A stranger stumbled out, clutching onto the rim of the portal.

He stared blind at the ceiling. Yellow-green eyes shone beneath them, illuminating the darkness of the lab. Shock-white hair straggled down his head. Tucker stepped back in abject horror, fear punching him in the gut.

 _He could see right through its head._

The ghost slowly blinked and glanced back down at the two trembling figures. It staggered towards them, silver boots dragging against the ground. A palm reached for them. Sam and Tucker lurched back, away from this _thing_ staring right at them.

'Tucker… Sam?" it said softly. The voice sounded like it came from across the room, a whisper across the halls – and yet it sounded vaguely familiar, almost like… like…

Realization ripped into Sam, razor-sharp. A hand flew to her mouth. " _Danny_ …?"

Tucker closed his eyes and groaned.

Danny's knees buckled, making him collapse onto the ground. His arms snaked around his stomach. He shivered, his breath coming out in streams. Sam inched towards him as a mist poured off his suit, uncertainty etched over her face. 'Are - are you okay? How do you feel?'

Sam immediately admonished herself for asking such a stupid question – but what else could be said? _Hey Danny, you alive?_

He didn't respond. His breath faded.

'Here, let me help you up.' She placed a hand beneath each shoulder, and holstered him up. A gasp escaped her lips. Even with all the sports training her parents made her take, he felt as light as a wicker ball. His head lulled, eyes flickering open.

A familiar human hue met hers.

'Sam- I -' with a sigh Danny fell backwards.

Sam stepped back in fear, open hands trembling.

Tucker took a step forward. 'Did you accidently drop him-?' He caught a few flecks of white smoke dissolve from between her fingers.

Danny fell unconscious to the ground, a glove draped over his chest in search of a heartbeat.

Tucker felt sick. "What are we going to do?" His voice rose in panic.

Sam crouched down, attempting to gage Danny's state. She reached for the zipper on his suit, only to find that there wasn't one. She frowned. It was as if the zipper was never there.

Undeterred, she pressed her fingers beneath his collar. "I can feel a pulse – it's very faint though."

"Think we should call 9-1-1?" Tucker pulled out a sleek cellphone out of his pockets.

"I don't think _this_ is something they'll know what to do with and I don't have his parent's number. Call Jazz! I'm sure she'll know what to do. _Hurry_!"

Tucker dialed the number, though it took a few tries due to how much his fingers trembled. The phone began to emit a ring-tone. "Come on… come on…" He muttered under his breath.

As they waited for Jazz to pick the phone up, Sam kept watch over the boy lying on the tiles.

Au aura arose around his still frame, motes dancing in the air around him. His hair ruffled, a supernatural wind emanating from the portal. She looked up.

The gate seemed to loom over them, ever larger. A green film swirled at the entrance.

As Tucker talked on the phone, she stared at the portal, convincing herself that the curtain was hypnotic in its twists and turns. It was, but that wasn't the reason she looked away.

She couldn't bring herself to look at Danny.

Though she was loath to admit it, there was something about both the familiarity and unfamiliarity of her friend that sent a primordial shiver up her spine.

She was scared of him -

\- and scared of what that could mean.


	3. The Other Side

**Chapter Three: The Other Side**

* * *

" _Cuz the world might do me in/It's alright cuz I'm with friends…"_

– Mystery Skulls, _Ghost_

* * *

"You're an intelligent guy, Spike. I'm sure if you were to open up, you would be able to do whatever you set your mind to!" Jazz exclaimed.

She and the aforementioned high school junior sat in the catacombs of the library. The heavily tattooed guy slouched in his chair, a painted fingernail resting on _The Myth of Sisyphus._ He gave a noncommittal grunt.

Her phone rang out of the blue, a jaunty tune muffled in the depths of her backpack. She jolted in surprise. Jazz plunged her hand into the bag, pulling it out and checking the ID.

Tucker. She parsed her lips. Jazz had kept his number after a brief stint in tutoring at Casper High – but the tutoring ended a while ago, so why was he calling her now?

She gave an apologetic look towards Spike. "Hold on, I need to get this." She took her bag, and stepped into the empty halls of the building.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Jazz? _We have an emergency_. I don't know what to do and he's barely breathing and-" The voice she heard was in a serious panic, tripping over words in an attempt to get it out all at once.

"Okay, _slow down_. What happened?" She asked.

"There was an accident down in your parent's lab. The portal exploded and I think Danny's seriously _hurt_ and –"

Jazz's stomach dropped. She clenched the phone tight, no longer quite able to hear what Tucker was rambling. She quickly collected her thoughts together and shifted into leadership mode.

"Wait right there – _I'm heading over right now_. Watch over him and call 9-1-1 if he gets any worse!" Jazz said in a commanding tone.

After Tucker affirmed what she said, Jazz hanged up, her knuckles white as she continued to hold her phone in a tight squeeze. Angry tears arose in her eyes.

"I knew it. _I knew their insanity would hurt him some day,_ " she muttered.

Jazz rushed back to the study hall, nothing feeling as real as it did a minute ago.

Spike looked up to look at her, his face as expressionless as ever. Jazz tried to smile a little. "I – I have to go, but I'll see you next week?" Jazz said.

Spike only grunted in response.

"Thanks." She said. She shoved the books into her bag, and ran out of the library to the parking lot where her pink convertible rested. Her hands trembled as she placed the key into the ignition.

She remembered when she saw Danny for the first time, a two-year-old girl gazing down at a sleeping infant in his crib. Her parents looked with her, weariness and love resting in their frames. " _You're going to be a good big sister and help look after him, right?"_ her mother asked.

" _I will,"_ Jazz promised.

As they grew up, she found herself keeping that promise over the years. She tried to protect him from bullies, from people making fun of their parent's profession. She even fought off their parent's cooking when it came to life and attacked them.

She grew into the steady adult figure he needed, as bit by bit their mother and father became distant, carried away by the current of their research.

It wasn't like her parents had been negligent on purpose -she knew that - but there was something about their fascination with ghosts that left something… lacking.

Like they had more time for monsters than their living, breathing family.

Still, she never thought of her parents as the kind of people who would let their children get hurt. No matter what they did, no matter how many insane ideas they had, they always put their children's safety first. That hadn't changed… until today.

As her car pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street, she tried to figure out exactly what she needed to do to ensure that this would never happen again.

* * *

When Danny awoke with a gasp, the first thing he realized was that something felt _wrong_.

He couldn't place his finger on it, couldn't understand the sense of _nothing_ within his structure. His left hand clutched at the tiles, making a feel for something tangible, something to anchor him to the real world.

Two familiar faces swam above him, their appearances blurred out in the harsh red of the Fenton emergency light. He blinked - their faces submerged to the surface.

Their mouths were open in shock, shoulders tense and rigid. He noticed them relax the minute his eyes went open – but only by a little.

Their reaction to him felt far worse than his pain.

''How - how long have I been out,?' Danny wheezed. He eased up, proceeding to rub one of his eyes while the other opened to look at them.

'About twenty minutes, dude,' Tucker explained. He exchanged an uneasy glance with Sam. 'So, uh, how're you feeling?' Tucker visibly winced after asking.

'Shocked,' Danny chuckled. His voice sounded off, a reverberation shadowing his words. His eyes flicked in confusion.

Tucker relaxed his shoulders. 'Dude, that's a terrible joke.'

'Ha-ha, I know.' Danny got up, rubbing the back of his neck as he frowned. 'In all seriousness though I feel… weird.' He placed a hand across his chest. 'I - ' His face went deathly pale. He held out his arms. Black sleeves, white gloves. He looked down – the entire suit had completely reversed, a photonegative of itself.

'Okay, what happened to my suit?' He looked between the two of them, a nervous laughter escaping. He turned to Tucker. 'Not funny Tuck. What did you do with it?'

Tucker raised his arms in defense. 'I didn't do anything with it man - you were like that when you -' He hesitated. Again, the nervous glance with Sam.

The room began to spin. Danny placed his head in his hands, groaning. Within his peripheral vision, he noticed a few lines of grey. He pulled his bangs down – not grey. White.

'What happened to me?' he whispered.

They took a few steps back, as if he were a cornered dog about to bite them at a moment's notice.

He stared at his hands, fingers trembling. 'What happened after I - after I went in…'

Sam stepped forward, a show of determination. Her face, however, could not mask the fear rising up her spine. 'After you got in, we heard a small click - and then…' Her voice faltered.

'There was a great big flash.' Tucker finished.

Danny's breathing stopped. He could recall snippets - the light, the sparks, the screaming, the _burning_... He stumbled forward. Sam ran over to catch him. He phased through her, a few wisps dissolving into the air. They froze. His pupils contracted into pinpricks.

'Wha-?' He looked behind him. A few splinters of mist disappeared from her hands.

'We think you're some sort of –' she stammered - but he couldn't hear anything else, rabbit-fire beats bursting in his ears. He ran to the mirror, not noticing his foot passing through the shattered light bulbs on the tiles. He almost fell upon the laboratory mirror, his hands splayed across the glass.

A stranger stared back at him.

Clenching his teeth upon his delayed recognition of himself, he glanced up at his hair. The color had completely drained from it.

After all, fear had a way of making the hair go white.

" _It's okay, it's okay – I can just dye it back to normal, no one will ever notice…"_ he thought.

Something exploded in his skull. He squeezed his eyes tight, his hands trailing down the mirror. He closed his fists. When the pain subsided moments later, he opened his eyes again – only to meet with a gaze inhuman.

Danny backed away from the reflection. 'That's not – that's not _possible_ …'

A door slammed open above them.

"Kids! We're home!" Jack's voice boomed.

Footsteps echoed down the hall upstairs.

Danny jumped, his hands rising as if to defend from an imminent attack. He turned back to his friends, trying to ignore how they scuffled away from him, or how painfully _bright_ the lab had become.

' _I can't let them see me like this!_ ' He exclaimed.

Despite how much he was shaking, Tucker couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Why not? Maybe they could help-"

Danny glared. "Hello? They're ghost _hunters_. And I look like a –" He paused upon the sound of the basement door opening. He stepped back, his voice squeaking in panic. " _Hide me!"_

Sam ran over and opened the cabinet full of Hazmat suits. 'In here, quick!'

Tucker shoved Danny in, slamming the closet door behind him.

'What's going on down there?' Jack ran down, waving a ray gun in his hands. When he saw them, he lowered the gun, narrowing his eyes. 'What the heck are you kids doing here?'

Sam bit her lip. 'We were… uh….'

'Looking at this cool stuff?' Tucker added hopefully.

Maddie pinched the bridge of her nose. "Didn't Danny tell you you're not supposed to be down here? What if -" She looked up, her attention immediately upon the swirling green radiating out of the portal. She nudged her husband in the ribs. "Jack, are you seeing this?"

Jack looked up, and started blinking in disbelief. "It works?" He dropped the gun, his fists pumping up and down in childhood glee. "The Fenton portal works! Haha, I knew it!"

Maddie thrust a fist into her open hand. "It must have been a delay in the hardware after all!"

She turned to the two teenagers. "But Danny's still in big trouble. Speaking of which–" she glanced around the lab, "-where is he?"

Sam looked up to the left of the ceiling. "He said he needed to… go to the bathroom?"

"Well, when he comes out, tell him he's grounded." Maddie turned to Jack and beamed. "We should get our notes out of the car. This is so _exciting!_ "

Jack raised his arm, as if to run. "You said it babe!" Both parents ran up the stairs, leaving Sam and Tucker alone in the lab.

"Quick, let's get Danny out of here before they come back." Sam said. They ran over to the cabinet.

"Hey, it's safe to come out now," Sam announced, opening the door as she did so. She squinted, her eyes trailing the hangers of identical Hazmat suits. She shoved them to one side, revealing nothing but an empty space at the back of the cabinet.

Danny was gone.

* * *

Upon being shoved into the cabinet by Tucker, Danny found himself rising through the closet, up the ground, and out of the other side of the wall. He stumbled onto the concrete, feet catching onto the ground.

He blinked, not quite understanding what happened.

Darkness shrouded the walls of the ally way, a tinge of sunlight highlighting the bricks behind him.

His entire body felt like static, akin to his foot falling asleep. He stretched out his arms in confusion and glanced down. His entire body had gone translucent, a few motes of light fading from his right leg.

Before he could even think, a white aura materialized around his figure, delineating his body from the environment around him.

He tore his eyes away from his body, his head caught in a dulled daze. He spotted his parent's RV from the alleyway, their figures carrying out a large folder of papers from the trunk. Another wave of terror arose in his chest.

As if by instinct, the static feeling he felt sank deeper. In the corner of his eye, he could see his hands, his arms, and his legs dissolve completely out of sight. There was nothing of him left within the shadows.

He realized in an instant that this was clearly a nightmare. Granted, a _realistic_ dream, but a dream nonetheless.

He clenched his fists, attempting to will himself back into reality. He re-appeared in an instant. He crouched down, a determined look on his face.

" _Well, if I'm lucidly dreaming, at least I can fly, right?"_ Danny thought.

He floated up with a start, his legs unknowingly merging into a ghostly flagellum. Danny raised his arms, mimicking the multitude of superhero comics he used to read as a kid. He could feel his stomach drop as he lurched into the air. A sense of joy arose in his throat.

That was until he unintentionally flipped over, his head facing the ground. He saw the ghostly tail waving in his vision. "Where did my legs go?" Danny cried out loud.

He tried to render them apart, envisioning them as two instead of one. His legs slid out, white boots remerging from the gray.

A faint feeling came upon him, and heavy and sick, he collapsed back onto the ground. His head hit the cement with a heavy _clunk_. Stars shattered over his eyes. He stared at the blue sky, blackness coming into his vision.

The last thing he saw was a white arc that burst from his chest, the light split into two. He noticed a sense of heaviness come upon him again, his air pipe working overdrive to force air into his lungs – a straw forcing a raging hurricane down his neck.

As he slipped out of consciousness, the last sounds he heard were a sudden cry in the distance, and the sound of sprinting footsteps.

* * *

Jazz was the first to come across the crumpled form of her brother. His white t-shirt was matted in mud, the red circle on it almost like blood upon his chest. A Lichtenberg scar stretched angry across his index finger and his forearm.

"Danny, are you okay?" Jazz cried, her hands tapping hard against his shoulder. His black hair covered his face, his bruised eyes completely shut. Specks of dried red rested upon his fingers. If she looked closer, she would have noticed some subtle shades of emerald amidst the rust of blood.

Jazz dropped down, her fingers upon his neck. She could feel a pulse, faint, but still there. She stood up, and sprinted into the house. "Mom? Dad? I think Danny's hurt!"

Her parents rushed out of the kitchen; panic arising in their faces. A blueprint of the portal rested in Jack's hands.

" _Where is he?"_ Maddie shouted.

"Outside! Hurry!" Jazz answered, and with that turned back to the outside of the house.

Jack and Maddie followed her outside, until they came across their son. Jack crouched down, cradling the boy in his arms. The map fell out of his hands. The mark on Danny's arm had already begun to disappear from view, a white line subtle against his skin.

"Sweetheart, can you hear me?" Maddie said, crouching down beside Jack. Danny's breathing deepened, his chest visibly waxing and waning. She turned to her husband. "We need to take him to a hospital!"

Jack nodded, standing up with Danny still in his arms.

A few moments later, Sam and Tucker ran out of the house, just in time to witness the chaos before them. Maddie had already started up the car, with Jack carrying his son from the ally way and into the back of the RV.

Tucker raised an eyebrow when he saw how _normal_ Danny looked again.

Jazz followed behind her father, a furious look storming across her face. A flood of words built up in her like a dam, threatening to burst into a tirade of accusations and concerns. She knew it was neither the time nor place for it though – Danny's life was on the line, and there wasn't any time to waste. She slammed the car door closed as she got in.

After securing Danny in the back, his father travelled to the front of the car. Before going in though, Jack turned to Tucker and Sam.

"We'll let you know how he's doing," he said. Noticing the looks across their faces, he tried to give a hopeful expression.

"Don't worry – he's a Fenton. He'll be fine in no time!" Jack exclaimed. He went back into the car. Black gloves clutched hard on the steering wheel.

The RV practically lifted as it took off, dust trails kicked up as the treadmills sped towards the hospital. It was far faster than an ambulance – especially since the driver ignored all red lights, speed rules, and fire hydrants in the best of times.

Tucker turned to Sam. "Tell me I'm not crazy. You don't think the closet had a secret entrance to the back alley, do you?"

Sam placed a finger to her lip in concentration. "I doubt it, but I can't really figure out how he got on the other side… unless…" She shook her head. That was impossible. He would have had to walked through the wall in order to…

She stopped, remembering how he looked when he got out of the portal.

She glanced at Tucker. It was clear from his expression that the same thought had crossed his mind.

An awkward pause floated in the air between them. They looked away from each other.

"He'll be fine," Tucker said, a little uncertainty creeping into his voice.

"Yeah," Sam replied.

They continued to stare down the road, long after the RV faded out of view.


	4. Living Nightmare

**Chapter Four: Living Nightmare**

* * *

" _More disturbing than the unknown is the distortion of the familiar."_

\- FleshMad Steed, Magic the Gathering

* * *

Photographs are modern day ghosts.

Sam remembered reading that once, a long time ago, and ever since then she developed a fascination with the subject.

She sat on the edge of her bed, a scrapbook gaped open upon the sheets. She flipped through the pages, her precarious concentration making photos blur into each other.

In one page there was a collection of fairground pictures from a photobooth, the three of them – Danny, Tucker, and herself – making a variety of goofy faces at the camera. In one of the photo slides, she stuck a bunny ears pose behind Danny. He looked up a perplexed expression on his face, the picture a perfect capture of why Tucker called him 'clueless'. Despite herself, she chuckled.

She turned the page in an almost absent-minded manner. On the left-side corner of the page, a seventh grade yearbook photo stared at her in black and white.

Her younger self had her head shorn on one side, both ears pierced in two sections of the pinna. Black eyeliner created a winged look around her purple contacts.

The intital reaction to her look was… interesting to say the least. The brown strain from when her mother dropped the teapot onto the Indian carpet was still there in the living room. Her father had ripped the latest New York Times in his manicured hands, his lip trembling in disbelief. Her _bubbe_ – on the other hand – gave the widest, toothiest grin that Sam ever saw in her life.

"That's the spirit!" Her grandmother exclaimed, just before Sam's father fainted onto the floor.

School – on the other hand – was a nightmare. She could take the looks, the whispers, the ugly comments. She didn't wear the long blonde wig her mother tried to give her, nor did she complain about the multiple-day detention she received when she kicked Martin off the monkey bars for killing her hamster. Still, a painful sense of isolation sometimes took her breath. The dining hall used to be by far the worst part. It was near impossible to find a seat that stood alone from everybody else - somewhere where she wouldn't have to deal with the suspicious sidelong glances or the giggles from peppy girls looking at her from behind mirrors. It was the part of the day she always dreaded.

That was, until Danny and Tucker decided to join her table one day.

She hadn't heard the conversation beforehand – Danny's insistence, Tucker's reluctance – all she knew was that one moment she was picking at a tofu sandwich, and the next, there was a nervous looking guy asking if he could join her at the table for lunch.

She had, of course, heard of those 'weirdo' Fentons from her classmates before. Rumors mostly of an incident that happened a while ago, but the Fentons were the kind of eccentrics that her parents would expressively forbid her from hanging out with.

With this in mind, she nodded with a small smile, and with a look of relief, Danny set his tray down upon the table. Tucker sat next to him, though he edged a little away from her at first – she had "a scary aura" Tucker would admit much later, but she took it as a compliment.

Much to her surprise, they kicked it off from the start – as soon as she found out about what Danny's parents did (Tucker had mentioned it first while Danny look away with a grimace), she started asking questions, a genuine interest in the subject of his parent's study. From the way Danny perked up, she realized that it was the first time his family had not been derided or looked down upon. Every lunch time after that, they began to sit together – a trio – until eventually they became inseparable friends.

She liked feeling that she was always seen for who she really was by them – and feared that if Tucker and Danny ever saw how rich her family really was, they would see her in a different light.

No, she wasn't ready for that. Not yet.

Sam took the bag from off the floor, plucking the photograph from out of the sidepocket. There was Danny, holding the HAZMAT suit in front of him, the portal large like a predator. A wearied expression froze on his face.

Her breath hitched in her throat as the photograph hung in her hand. Why on earth did she do that? _What possessed her to pressure him in there?_

She placed her head in her fists, a wavering breath in her chest. She couldn't let go of the scene in her mind, the scream, the light, and his shadow strobbing in the portal… Her hands clenched.

Her fault. It was her fault.

The phone rang beside her.

Blinking away the threat of tears, she picked up the cellphone and placed it by her ear.

"Hey, what's up?" Sam asked. She tried to sound as normal as possible. A quaver rang underneath.

Tucker's voice came through on the other side of the line. "Hey Sam – Danny's awake. We're allowed to visit him in the… in the…" Tucker's voice trembled a little bit "… you know, in the _hospital_." He said the last bit fast, as if trying to push it out of the way. Sam took notice, but decided not to bring it up for the time being.

"When can we meet him?" Sam asked.

"Now."

* * *

It started with a molar falling out of his jaw.

It didn't hurt necessarily – it just slipped out of his socket, without warning, without sting. Danny rolled it around his tongue. The molar knocked against his other teeth, all solid one moment until another tooth clicked out of place when his tongue brushed against it. The loose molar made a _crik_ sensation, a sound that echoed in his skull.

He spat them out, two white pebbles. Green spittle covered the enamel, globs of ectoplasm mixed in the clear. He could taste the grainy dust within his mouth, more broken stones resting on his tongue.

A domino effect began, and as he reached into his mouth to try to fasten the rest into his bleeding gums, his teeth came out like a string of pearls, tied by a single neon nerve.

Shaking, eyes narrowing, he backed away from them. The teeth glistened in the sun –

" _Can you hear me?"_ A female voice asked.

Danny woke with a start, his upper body flinging up. His eyes were wide, not quite able to see anything from the brightness assaulting his vision. He rubbed a tongue across his teeth. Still there. Still whole. An IV wire moved along with his wrist with a minor tug. Jack and Maddie sat on a couple plastic chairs by the bed, sitting up when he moved.

"Danny, it's okay. You're safe now." Maddie's voice soothed. She placed a hand upon his shoulder. His rapidly beating heart slowed down. His back slumped, coarse blankets rumpling against his lower body.

Maddie looked at the IV with some concern.

The doctors had some difficulties sticking the needle into the peripheral vein in the first place, the needle slipping out every time they tried to stick it in his arm. It took about three or four times before the IV line finally stayed beneath the epidermis. The nurse doing the procedure asked her if Danny had been using needles for some reason – the amount of times it slipped out was unusual for a first time patient, especially for an otherwise healthy teenager.

"Where am I?" Danny asked, looking around him. The walls were a garish white, a wide window allowing sunlight to stream into the space and bounce off the paint.

"North Mercy Hospital," Maddie explained, "The doctors say you should be okay in a few days or so." She gave an encouraging smile.

Not wanting to scare him anymore than he already was, she decided it would be best to leave out information about some of the more _unusual_ findings during the initial examination.

True, Danny had apparently been electrocuted somehow, but it didn't explain why his core body temperature had dropped a few degrees.

There was also the fact that the doctors found out that he had – for all intents and purposes – made a complete recovery from his injuries in the space of a few hours. No scar, no burns. No apparent nerve damage either.

It was a sheer medical miracle.

"How long have I been out?" Danny asked.

"About a day or so," Jack answered, "but I knew that you would be fine! We've always been a tough family!" The dark circles under his eyes belied his statement, but there was a sort of child-like sincerity to his voice that made him hard to doubt.

"They just need to keep you here for one more night for a few more tests, and then we can head home." Maddie assured him.

" _A few more tests,"_ he thought, relaxing onto the pillow. Somehow, it didn't make him feel any better.

* * *

Tucker and Sam sat in the waiting room. A set of magazines sat beside them untouched, a variable cornucopia of _Highlight_ s _, People's Magazines,_ and gardening catalogues.

The clock ticked before them, growling louder and shriller with each passing second.

Sam glanced over at Tucker in concern. He had not spoken a single word since they entered the hospital.

His left hand rubbed the back of his right in a constant twitching motion. His PDA sat on his lap, forgotten. He refused to look up from the floor, his face drenched in sweat despite the air conditioning in the room.

He looked sick.

After about five minutes, Sam decided to break the silence. "Um… Tucker? Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm doing fine." Tucker tried to crack a smile, failing in a miserable fashion as it slid off his face.

"It's okay to tell me if something's wrong, you know. I mean, if it's about Danny –"

"It's not that. I mean, yeah, _but_ –" He looked up to her, fear wavering in his eyes, "I just don't want to be here, okay? This place is giving me the creeps." He looked down on the floor, an ashamed look on his face.

"You know, we can always come back later if you need to leave." Sam said.

Tucker looked up. A flare of hope arose in him, a temptation to leave the hospital, to leave the smell of sickly-sweet antiseptic and _death_. He could feel it creeping in the rooms, a perverse feeling of sterility and helplessness permeating the halls.

Tucker shook his head. "I shouldn't. I mean, our friend's in the hospital, being poked at by who-knows how many needles and…" he sighed, "And I don't know what else to _do_."

A memory flashed of middle-school councilors. Sam crossed her arms. "Do you want to talk about it? I mean you don't have to but -"

Tucker glanced at her. "There's really not much to say. Hospitals just suck, you know? I thought I wouldn't have to come back here ever since –" He stopped himself.

Tucker could recall the scene in his mind's eye – a little kid wondering why his grandfather seemed such a husk of his former self in the depths of the oncology unit. His grandfather – so strong and vibrant in real life - became too tiny in bed, the mattress misshapen, too awkward and tall. There was a steady beep of the machines, a cacophony against his grandfather's haggard breathing. It never seemed right, the wires criss-crossing against him, the freezing air around them, the metallic smell of the IV and hospital gruel…

"- ever since I came here last time." Tucker finished. "Just – promise not to tell Danny, okay? He's already got enough on his plate without having to worry about me."

Sam nodded. "I promise."

A door opened, Jazz coming through the waiting room. Her arms wrapped around her stomach. She looked up at them, and glared.

"Why didn't you tell my parents about what happened to Danny as soon as they came home? I thought you were his _friends_ ," she said.

Tucker raised his arms in defense. " _Whoa_. We are his friends. It's just we thought he seemed fine when he woke up…"

Sam took over. "Yeah - he told us he felt better. I guess he went out for air or something without telling us. We thought he was okay."

Jazz looked at them like they were complete idiots.

"You're telling me that after he got electrocuted in my parents lab, you _honestly_ thought he was…" she waved her hands. "Never mind, forget it. As long as he's fine, that's all that matters."

She settled down on the chair, pulling the DSM-IV out from her purse. She began to read a section on post-traumatic stress disorder, only pausing to either underline passages or take notes along the edges.

A nurse came into the waiting room, holding a clipboard in his hands. Jack and Maddie followed after him, a tired but relieved expression in their eyes. Upon spotting Sam and Tucker, they waved at them in a cheerful manner.

"I'm so glad you could come," Maddie said, "he's doing a lot better now, but he could use a little cheering up."

The nurse tapped his pencil upon the clipboard.

"You must be Tucker and Sam," the nurse said, "Your friend's been asking for you. Follow me." He turned around, gesturing for them to come into the hallway. They walked behind him in quick pursuit, Sam looking ahead, Tucker not daring to look at the plaster-painted walls around him.

They came into the room where Danny had been resting. "Take as long as you like, but keep in mind that he still needs rest. I recommend keeping it short so you don't exhaust him," the nurse said with a smile. He proceeded to leave the room.

"Sooo… how're you feeling, dude?" Tucker asked, gingerly sitting in one of the plastic chairs. Sam sat on the one next to him, crossing her arms. He didn't look as bad as she feared – he seemed very much alive, dark circles around his eyes, true, but alive.

Danny sat up from his bed, a smile beaming on his face. "Not great, but feeling a lot better than before. Docs think I should be able to get home in a day or two. Which is good cuz I'm getting reeeeal sick of the hospital food already."

Tucker relaxed, a smile returning to his face for the first time in several hours. "Yeah, I bet! Hey, when you get out, we should totally go check out the Nasty Burger. They just got one of those double patties out on the menu as of yesterday. 'The Mighty Meaty Burger' – it looks freakin' _sweet._ "

"Tell me about it." Danny laid back, his back resting upon a couple pillows. "Best part is that I get to skip the math quiz – folks want me to stay home for a day or so to keep an eye on me in case 'any side effects develop'." He said the final part in air quotes.

An uncomfortable silence entered the space.

"So… uh, how much do they know?" Danny asked after a minute.

Tucker shrugged. "Everyone thinks you got electrocuted by some loose wires during the blackout. As far as we can tell, they think the portal turned on by itself."

"Oh. That's good… that's - good." Danny glanced over at Sam. A concerned look passed over his face.

She wasn't quite looking him in the eye, her mouth parsed in concentration as if wrestling with something inside her thoughts.

"Um… everything okay, Sam?" Danny asked.

Sam looked up, frowning as if trying to figure out what to say. "I… I'm sorry for pressuring you to go into that portal. It was stupid and –"

Danny shook his head. "Sam, this is _not your fault._ Trust me, if you guys hadn't come along, I would have done it anyway. Besides," he shrugged, "it's not like I'm in pain or anything. Everything's fine now…." he smiled, though Tucker noticed it didn't quite reach his eyes.

Tucker thought about asking him about his appearance after the portal, but decided against it.

Had it been possible that in the fear and confusion, that he had made it all up in his mind, the darkness of the room making Danny appearance seem more unusual than it actually was? He glanced at Sam. Her shoulders were less tense, as if a weight had been lifted off them. He decided to talk about the accident later.

After all, it was all over, wasn't it? Danny was fine – everything was going to be back to normal in no time.

* * *

Within the depths of the Fenton laboratory, the portal continued to swirl green within the darkness. From out of the veil, a couple of figures floated out, their tentacles dragging in the air around them.

Their red eyes glittered in the gloom, simple minds not able to understand the environment of the world around them. They snarled in pain and confusion as new smells and sensations shattered into them, a jumble jangling against their systems.

The ecto-pusses, seeking escape from the hell in which they found suddenly themselves, floated up towards the ceiling and phased out of the house. The wind breezed through their ecto-dermis, green skin creating a faint glow in the night air. Their eyes narrowed.

They could feel it all around them – warmth, _life_.

The ghosts escaped into the city, seeking out victims to sustain their endless appetites.

* * *

Author's Notes: After a longer than intended delay, here is the continuation of the story! Special thanks to Ms Frizzle, NeoRetro10K, LunaLillyth, and Guest for your wonderful reviews. ^^


End file.
